"I've only made two promises in my life: one was to marry Henry, the other was to stop loving you."
Novelist Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) listens carefully to these words from his former lover, Sarah Miles (Julianne Moore), who abruptly broke off their adulterous affair two years earlier.
Her promises and her diary, which reveals truths he had never known before, shed an entirely new light on Maurice's memories of their passionate romance, a love affair whose conclusion left an enormous void in both of their lives. Maurice never understood why Sarah, following years of declarations of one another's undying love, suddenly called their affair quits. In an instant though, everything finally makes sense.
Based on the 1951 novel by Graham Greene, "The End of the Affair" offers a sophisticated examination of a steamy affair set against the backdrop of World War II-era London. The film pieces together the long-lasting relationship in retrospective fragments, traced through Maurice's mind as he writes his newest novel. His memories of the affair are vivid and demonstrate the deep affection he and Sarah developed for one another.
But there is no denying the fact that Sarah is married. Her husband, Henry (Stephen Rea), is a meek government employee, who has never presented the love that Sarah so desperately desires. Sarah sought to find that missing love elsewhere and found it in Maurice, who entered the Miles' lives while researching his latest literary pursuit.
After the demise of their five-year affair, Maurice and Sarah parted ways, never able to fully recover from or forget what they had felt for each other. It is not until two years later that Maurice happens upon a distraught Henry, wandering aimlessly in the rain.
Henry explains to his old friend that he suspects his wife may be having an affair, and thus he has been contemplating hiring a private detective. Maurice, removed from Sarah's life for two years now but still harboring his old feelings for her, is equally interested in uncovering the truth about Sarah.
Maurice's return to Sarah's life ignites their suppressed feelings. Their reunion is awkward, neither knowing how the other truly feels but both still desperately in love. Director Neil Jordan masterfully interweaves the ex-lovers' reunion with scenes from the past, when the War provided an oddly passionate foundation for their affair.
As the floor quaked beneath them and buildings exploded around them, Maurice and Sarah created a stability in their love that contrasted with the chaos of the rest of the world.
"Affair" captures the rareness of the lovers' situation. The love that Maurice and Sarah share runs deeper than either had ever expected, and Fiennes and Moore demonstrate this remarkably. Both actors bring to the screen their characters' unparalleled happiness during their affair and the misery each feels when they are apart.
The film is warming in that way. It depicts the true emotions of the affair and shows that their relationship involved an affectionate bond much more than simple lust.
The film finds success in its careful unraveling of the true reasons behind Sarah's ending the affair with Maurice and the circumstances of her present "unknown" affair. At the beginning of the film, the audience feels very much in the dark, as the affair has already ended. We see the intensity of Maurice's interest in Sarah's life, but we do not yet have a context in which to understand.
The film masks the entire story, providing only necessary details at the necessary moments. The audience is not experiencing this affair and its aftermath voyeuristically, but rather it is thrown into the action and becomes very involved. Many questions arise about the events of the story, and the audience must wait anxiously for the answers.
What happened? Why did Sarah suddenly decide to break off the affair? This mystery serves as the film's main premise. The audience is trying to figure out the mystery at the same time as Maurice, who, newly fixated on Sarah's alleged "affair" two years after their breakup, hires a private detective to track Sarah.
The film is beautifully shot with Maurice's recollections of the affair interspersed with the piece-by-piece uncovering of Sarah's activities. The film cleverly juxtaposes Maurice's one-sided memories of certain events with Sarah's telling of the events as revealed in her diary, which is acquired by the private detective. Unsettling scenes from earlier in the movie are repeated from Sarah's point-of-view, which offers greater insight into the movie's mystery.
As Sarah, Moore magnificently captures the torment embodied in a woman bound by her vow in marriage and ripped away by unlikely circumstances from the man she loves. Moore's portrayal of Sarah is moving, as she tries to make due with an unhappy marriage and a love that cannot be forgotten.
The post-affair Sarah is very different from the Sarah who barely gave a second thought to being with Maurice. In a pivotal moment in the movie, Sarah is transformed spiritually. The formerly irreverent adulteress puts her faith in a higher power when she asks for a miracle, the conditions of which change her world forever.
The faith Sarah finds is something Fiennes' Maurice cannot accept. Fiennes portrays Maurice as a likeable English gentleman whose beliefs lie not in the spiritual world but in the world around him. He needs a certain clarity in his life " he cannot put blind faith in a higher power and cannot fathom a love that is not physically acted upon.
Maurice's desire to retain a hold on Sarah's life, even two years after their breakup, exhibits his inability to move on with his life, much the same way Sarah cannot cope without him. The two are meant to be together, but circumstances are never on their side.
The movie is wonderfully acted. Moore and Fiennes are marvelous at embodying the repercussions of their affair and its long-ranging effects on their emotional and touching characters.
The story holds the audience's attention as it is slowly pieced together and the characters revisit their passion. The visual artistry is stunning, painting a romantic picture of 1940s London. The audience is alongside Maurice throughout as he tries to heal the wounds of the past and uncover exactly what caused "The End of the Affair."
